Creativity Prompts for Writers, Journalers, Artists and Speakers

One in five people struggle with mental illness, and many don’t get help, Lannin said. Those who do wait an average of 11 years, before finally seeking treatment. Lannin says distressed students in the study were more likely to click the link for information (8.5 percent probability for those with high self-stigma, compared to 17.1 percent for those with low self-stigma). Distress is like the gas pedal and stigma the brake, he said. Unfortunately, by the time someone reaches a high level of distress, he or she is often struggling to function.

“Identifying distressed students can be difficult because distress affects people in different ways. The main thing we notice is impairment in functioning across multiple spheres. They struggle with school work or with family relationships and friendships. If it gets bad enough, they might struggle with hygiene or start strongly contemplating suicide,” Lannin said. “It’s not just that they feel bad; it’s that functionally they’re impaired.”

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, three-quarters of all chronic mental illness begins by age 24. Lannin says for many young adults this is a time of transition — going to college, working full-time and moving away from home — adding to the reasons they may not seek help. This is another consideration when designing interventions and educational information, Lannin said. –Science Daily

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story or scene from the point of view of someone with an untreated mental illness.

Journaling Prompt: Write about your experience with mental illness in yourself, a friend, or a family member.

Art Prompt: Stigma

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Tell your audience about the stigma of mental illness and give some suggestions as to how we can change the stigmatizing.

Communication researchers who interviewed childless individuals for a study recently published online in the National Communication Association’sJournal of Applied Communication Research found that expanding definitions of family often don’t embrace people without children. These individuals felt that work and family discussions isolated or belittled them, and that sometimes they were expected to fill in for absent workers because of more liberal attitudes toward parents. –Science Daily

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story or a scene from the point of view of someone who doesn’t have children.

Journaling Prompt: Whether you have children or not, how do the results of this study make you feel? Write about you see yourself in society based on your status as a parent or a childless person.

Art Prompt: Without children

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Inform your audience about this study and make some suggestions about how parents can be more understanding about the feelings of those without children.

Welcome to the Carnival of Creativity for May 13, 2012. All links will open in a new tab or window, so feel free to click through and leave some love in the comments. Once you close that window, you’ll be right back here for more linky goodness.

Writing Quote of the Week

Don’t sit down in the middle of the woods. If you’re lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other road. And/or change the person. Change the tense. Change the opening page. -Margaret Atwood

Podcasts

Spam of the Week

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That’s all for this week. Be sure to submit your article for next week’s Carnival of Creativity by Friday at midnight!

“There are two ways you can make an error as a man,” says Perilloux. “Either you think, ‘Oh, wow, that woman’s really interested in me’ — and it turns out she’s not. There’s some cost to that,” such as embarrassment or a blow to your reputation. The other error: “She’s interested, and he totally misses out. He misses out on a mating opportunity. That’s a huge cost in terms of reproductive success.” The researchers theorize that the kind of guy who went for it, even at the risk of being rebuffed, scored more often — and passed on his overperceiving tendency to his genetic heirs. The casual sex seekers “face slightly different adaptive problems,” says Perilloux. “They are limited mainly by the number of consenting sex partners — so overestimation is even more important.” Only the actually attractive men probably had no need for misperception.

The research contains some messages for daters of both sexes, says Perilloux: Women should know the risks and “be as communicative and clear as possible.” Men: “Know that the more attracted you are, the more likely you are to be wrong about her interest.” Again, that may not be as bad as it sounds, she says — “if warning them will prevent heartache later on.” –Science Daily

Writing Prompt: Write a scene or story about speed dating from the point of view of a man.

Journaling Prompt: Write about a dating experience where you misread the intentions of your date.

Art Prompt: Speed Dating

Nonfiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Tell a humorous story about a date you went on.

Children learn early that they can manipulate adults with their tears. As they grow up, they’ll learn more sophisticated manipulation strategies, but they all hinge on one key ingredient: fake emotion.

I begged out of the funeral. I was 10 years old and sensed that I could manipulate adults to my advantage. I told no one that my tears were at best cosmetic and at worst an expression of hysterical relief. I told no one that I hated my mother at the time of her murder. -James Ellroy, “My Mother’s Killer”. Read the entire article at GQ.com

Writing Prompt: Write a scene in first person point of view where the character is using manipulation to achieve a goal.

Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you have manipulated a situation or when you have been manipulated.

Art Prompt: Faking it

Nonfiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write a humorous story about a time when you tried to manipulate the outcome of a situation and failed.

Some Kings just can’t catch a break. In this delightful children’s story, the young King has allowed a dragon to escape from a magical book with some dire consequences! Put yourself in his shoes for a moment.

Things were growing very serious. However popular the King might become during the week, the Dragon was sure to do something on Saturday to upset the people’s loyalty. -Edith Nesbit, The Book of Dragons

Writing Prompt: Write about this from the King’s point of view. Write about it from the dragon’s point of view.

Journaling Prompt: Write about a habit you have that comes out just when you think everything is under control.

Art Prompt: Dragon

Nonfiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Tell a humorous story about a time when you were out of control.

Have you ever wondered what is going on in a baby’s brain? Thanks to advances in science, we are learning more about the secret life of babies.

Three- to seven-month-old infants showed more activation in a part of the brain when they heard emotionally neutral human sounds, such as coughing, sneezing, or yawning, than when they heard the familiar sounds of toys or water. That activity appeared in an area of the temporal lobe known in adults for its role in processing human vocalizations. The babies also showed greater response to sad sounds versus neutral ones in another part of the brain involved in emotion processing in adults. –Science Daily

Writing Prompt: Write a scene from a baby’s point of view.

Journaling Prompt: Write about your earliest memory.

Art Prompt: Baby

Nonfiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Tell your audience a funny story about one of your babies or a baby that you’ve known.

Have you ever done something without thinking? Well, in this story about the Secret Service, the Turkish Prime Minister gets a big surprise when he gets out of his car without thinking.

The prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was not so understanding. His motorcade was arriving at the Sheraton Hotel while a “POTUS Freeze” was in place. The Secret Service agent in charge of Erdogan’s detail asked him to wait until Obama’s motorcade had departed, but the Turkish prime minister did not heed the advice. He opened the door to his car, and armed Turkish agents began exiting the other vehicles in the motorcade. “Don’t do that!” the American detail leader shouted. But Erdogan’s entourage nonetheless approached Obama’s departure tent. An agent in the Presidential Protective Detail, having no idea who these foreign guys with guns were, yelled into his handheld mike, “Crash it! Crash the tent!” Within moments, a dozen agents were out of their cars in full sprint, guns drawn, and the Turks were forcibly detained.

The incident was over within 20 seconds, but the Turkish delegation was mightily offended. It canceled several events in New York, while the Secret Service and the State Department apologized and tried to smooth hurt egos. Although agents had done exactly what they were supposed to do, the service initiated a full review, and procedures were altered to ensure that presidential motorcades didn’t intersect with waiting dignitaries in the future.

Writing Prompt: Write about a character who gets a big surprise. Remember, have fun! Your writing exercise doesn’t have to be about secret service agents with guns. It could be a girl at a singles bar who suddenly finds herself surrounded by men offering her martinis.

Nonfiction / Speech Writing / Journaling Prompt: Write about a time you did something without thinking and got a big surprise.

Art Prompt: surprise!

Nonfiction / Speech Writing Prompt: Write about a time when you got a big surprise.

If you’re brave, share your work as a comment. And now, I’ve got to get back to all those guys with martinis. I can’t wait to see how it turns out!